1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to document management and, more particularly, to a system and a method for comparing extensible markup language (XML) documents such that certain elements and attributes are excluded from the comparison process.
2. Related Art
It is common when generating a document, such as a text file or spreadsheet, to draft, review, and revise the document multiple times before a final document is produced. In the electronic age, multiple drafts and revisions of a document may be saved as different versions on a computer or network in order to capture content changes and modifications made between drafts. Often, one may wish to compare versions of a document to determine what changes have been made. For example, if a document is being prepared by more than one person, changes made between versions may not be known to each person preparing the document. Software application comparison tools have been created to provide an easy mechanism for comparing documents and/or versions of a document to highlight changes made.
Current document comparison tools typically are file based, such that the tool or software component takes two flat, or text files, and compares the two files against each other. A common result of such a comparison tool may be a merged result of the two documents, with modifications denoted in a particular manner, such as, for example, deleted content may be struck through while added content may be underlined.
Shortcomings of such comparison tools include a limitation to a specific application or to a specific type of document, and the inability to limit the comparison process to specific content within the documents. Often, certain portions of a document are irrelevant for comparison purposes. For example, when versions of a document are compared, the comparison may yield different version numbers and timestamps, even though such differences may not be relevant to a user generating the comparison. On the other hand, a user may wish to know whether a change has been made in only a specific portion of a document, making any modifications occurring in the rest of the document irrelevant. No current comparison tool allows for a user to be selective in determining specific content for a comparison process.
Additionally, as stated above, most, if not all, tools are file-based executable programs, which generally are limited to a specific application or document type. Thus, a need exists for a comparison tool that may be flexibly used between different applications and document types, and that provides for a selective comparison between documents.